Hey Now! It's
the Weekend y'all! We're both wide awake early, so I do the Cuppa Vegas routine
and we get our munch on. Eventually we make our way down and hit the Mardi Gras
Bar. I insert coin and try to reproduce last nights results for my Sweet Ti.
First hand-

Our barkeep is
Abraham. Meeting all kinds of different folks at this bar. Including today's
local- Daina. Never met a Daina before. He has lived here for quite a while now.
He's from the Philippines and lived in New York for years. His daughter lives in
Vegas and he came for a visit, got a job here and never left! Sounds like
something out of a
dream...... While Diana is regaling us, I am steadily losing my ass off. I
blew through just about all of last night's profit. So to make the rest of it
last longer, I broke a hundy into twenties. Sweet Ti has been wanting to play
the new Orange is the New Blackish machine. I like the way the sound blasts all
around you. Queue the vid Jim!

Interesting, if small
bonus. Judging from the characters, this premise is from the first season. We
try Monopoly Large Money, and Gremlins. Nothing striking happens. We are in need
of a beverage, so we hit the Wally shortys. I manage the one and only hit...

I amble over to the
BConned Club to redeem the $65 free play that I received at check in. Blew thru
that too. We run into Jim from Raleigh. Seems like every time we are here he is
too. And as usual, he is mumbling and grumbling about something. That's Hank
Bonefish's nickname for him- mumbles and grumbles. He walks off still
mumbling....Time to do some shopping. Sweet Ti spots this on the sale rack-

Which is perfect for
us as I am constantly fending off squirrels from all of the birdfeeders. She
also finds me a new t-shirt-

Yet another perk about
being Emerald, the Shiny Green Card is that you get 40% off at the gift shop.
Even using points, which I did.

Also picked up
some Guaranteed Heel Restorer. We stashed our bounty aloft. Sweet Ti decides to
make a couple of phone calls and I get back to the action. I grabbed a tasty
Becks NA and nestled it into my lucky koozie that I have managed not to lose
ever after all of these years gamboling. I got it at a St. Patrick's Day Parade
on the OBX back in 2002.
That in itself is amazing. I forget and leave it everywhere. Then I remember
that I left it. And I always find it. So far. What was I talking about? Oh yeah!
I hit the Wally shorty and insert coinage. Rick the Jerk is the barkeep. And did
he live up to his name. We comes up to me and points to my beer. "You have
a choice. You can either pour that into a glass, or I'll take it from you"
Beg your pardon? "Rules. You didn't buy that at this bar." I show him
that it's not even alcoholic. "Don't care. Rules" I oblige the Jerk.
But even with all of that bad karma I had a bit of luck.

And now it's our
favorite time of the trip. Time to go hang out with Ziggy, Bo, and Dusty in
Henderson. No need for Sue this trip- I can get us there just fine. We need to
hit a drug store on the way for some essentials, so I smartly- though not on
purpose, get off of the Bruce Woodbury an exit too soon. And we drive right by a
Walgreen's so I pilot Hessie there. In/Out and looks like we are gonna arrive at
exactly the right time. This is very important. Zig can't suffer fools. This man
expects promptness. He answers the door shirtless. Too funny. Showing off his 66
year old physique.Bo is looking fit as usual. Dusty is all barks and wags. We
settle in and talk Bionic Knees and Florida. They returned recently from the
Sunshine State after visiting their youngest son. They are planning on moving
there after Zig retires. He takes me out back to show off the grapefruit tree he
planted last year. It's bearing fruit already.

I like the
design, and the open kitchen lets you keep an eye on the chefs. They make their
own egg pasta fresh. Wood pizza oven too!

Our server is Moarad.
Ziggy spends the whole evening trying to figure out where this dude is from.
Germany? Albania? Mexico? He's not telling just yet. We start out with the calamari
and bruschetta. Very nice sauce. Tender squids. Zig ordered a bottle of
wine.

Simply
incredible. And it turns out that Moarad is from Germany. But his father is Sicilian.
He speaks 6 languages. It's back to their house for Blue Bonnet ice cream and
more conversation. Friends are just about the greatest thing ever invented.
Other than Sweet Ti.

Back on the
Bayou, my stuffed bride retires for the evening. I man my standby shorty at
Wally's with tonight's barkeep- Spyder. Spyder wears these wonderful wrap around
glasses. He's from an alternate reality. Let's visit.

Well, today has been yet another intriguing experiment in the ongoing saga of
Life in the Circus.